American actress Sharon Stone is fronting a new Mugler campaign to give the brand a touch of old-fashioned glamour

In their latest marketing effort, Mugler left no stone unturned. They have gone to a name from the past to front their new series of ads, and none other than Sharon Stone. The campaign is for what the brand called an “archival capsule collection”, which is labelled Re/Edit. In a move as clever as it is fitting, they managed to pull Ms Stone out of the archive, too. But this isn’t merely a celebrity endorsement; it’s a smartly crafted synergy. The actress herself is still an enduring icon whose very presence evokes the golden age of Hollywood’s thrilling sensuality. The styling of the photos captured the elegance of Mugler from another era, one before street style infiltrated luxury fashion. But attentive fans will note that in most of the photos, she did not keep her legs apart.

This campaign’s revisit to the past does more than just spotlight the tailoring strength of old Mugler, which the capsule re-interprets: 24 of the looks from the brand’s ready-to-wear and couture collections, between 1985 and 2000. It’s also an embrace of an affirmative advertising style, a stark contrast to the increasingly pedestrian and spontaneous imagery now prevalent across social media platforms, such as TikTok. These images are well-lit and strengthened by meticulous compositional consideration. While they don’t share the extreme fantasies of the brand’s ’80s visuals, first lensed by Helmut Newton and then by Thierry Mugler himself, there’s something retro about their palpable sleekness. Ms. Stone isn’t just the star; she embodies the clothes with remarkable naturalness. Her presence, in fact, is not that of a typical model. She appears as if she wears pieces from her own wardrobe, garments that share the creative heft of her iconic costumes from films such as Basic Instinct.

The first woman to wear her husband’s white, button-downed shirt from Gap on the red carpet of the Academy Award (1998), Ms Stone has largely remained out of the limelight, especially in the fashion sphere. In 2001, she suffered a stroke, which the media at the time reported as “life-threatening”. She was vocal about her situation, even saying that Hollywood had ignored her and that her career “never really recovered”, even after her health improved. While retired from acting isn’t on the cards, she has spent much time painting and even had art shows, such as 2023’s Welcome to my Garden at the C. Parker Gallery. Even when she does not paint, she has not actively pursued roles, but is open to “substantial” acting work when it comes her way. However low-key she has been, the Mugler campaign leverages her undiminished status from past eras, much like the Re/Edit capsule itself.

This collection arrives as Mugler gears up for its first season under new creative director, Miguel Castro Freitas, who began in April 2025 and is set to debut during Paris Fashion Week for the spring/summer 2026 season. While predecessor Casey Cadwallader orchestrated a bold, high-octane, and celebrity-driven transformation, Mr Freitas, who honed his skills at Sportmax, Dries Van Noten, and Christian Dior Couture, is expected to offer a more refined and poetic evolution of Mugler’s boundary-pushing DNA. If Ms Stone in Re/Edit is any indication, softer silhouettes are in the works. Mr Freitas, like Thierry Mugler himself, was a dancer in his youth. This shared understanding of the body in motion is expected to heavily influence his work. Observers have started calling it “choreography in fabric”. The first jeté was already made by Sharon Stone, even if a modest one.

Photos: Mugler